Ding-Ding! Round one. Now in the red corner, weighing in at a
horse and a half pounds, is the Italian Stallion himself, Sylvester (I'm an
actor) Stallone. Whilst in the blue-card corner, weighing in at two and a half
strands of hair, is the one and only man about town, James (very nice beard)
Lipton.

Yipppee!

Thankfully, in fine form, both of these competitors take to
the stage no holds bard. With James quickly delivering a series of
straightforward questions towards Sly, before he can even yelp for his 'Mama'
in turn. Now these questions include such topics as: (1) His early life, plus
what his family background was like. (2) How Steve Reaves inspired him into
becoming a bodybuilder. (3) How academia took Sly to Switzerland,
Miami, and back again. And (4) His
seven years living in New York City,
struggling through the writing wilderness.

Don't fret though, fight fans. Post haste, Stallone replies
to James question by saying to him such things as...

When
I was born, the nurse who delivered me accidentally cut a nerve on the
side of my face. That's why I can't smile a lot. Plus speak with this
husky deep voice.

My
mother had the first television show in DC, about female exercise. I have
to attribute who I am today due to her outlandishness.

I
went to 13 schools in 12 years. I liked to spread it around, ha!

There
is always a scene in every movie that somehow defines it. In Rocky I did
it in one. 'Yo, Adrian!!!'.

The
DP is the most crucial man on the set. He's like a God.

Now
you have actors and you have performers. Actors don't have the personality
like the characters they play on screen. They need to work off of
something. Where as performers have to be whoever they are on screen. And
that's it.

Sometimes
risks pay off. Other times they don't. That's life.

I
find writing a conditional response.

I
love painting. I've done it since I was 12.

Ding-Ding! Round Two! Yep. You're right, fight fans. Sly
does speak about some of his movies during this bout. For example:

The
Lord's of Flatbush: 'It was my first acting role. I fooled them all, ha!'.

Rocky:
'Rocky was my way to embroil all of my frustrations onto the screen.
Basically it's a story about five characters that make up one character'.

Rocky
2: 'The reason I directed it was because nobody else liked the script'.

Rambo
First Blood: 'I always saw him as a man upon the cusp. He's a redemptive
Frankenstein figure'.

CopLand: 'I liked that film. It
was great going one on one with some superior actor's'.

Cliff-hanger
/ Demolition Man: 'I did enjoy making those movies. But I would not want
to go back to that again. Sometimes you have to move on'.

Dong! Final Round! Now in closing this urbane tête-à-tête, Sly
answers more questions posed by James from the Bernard Pivot structured questionnaire
-- where we learn that he likes the word 'passion' and hates the word 'foolish'.
Before he then answers subsequent questions' posed by the studious audience
about: self-satisfaction, directing, and his own acting method.

BONG! Game Over. It's a tie!

THE REVIEW:

Like many of
you, I'm sure; I've always presumed that Sylvester Stallone was somehow like
his Rocky persona in real life. But he's not you know. No. Far from it. After
watching him in this episode of 'Inside the Actors Studio', I now look at him
in a very-very different way.

You see, to me, Sly comes across as being a very clever and
creative man trapped in a world that's too visual and esoteric by nature. Furthermore,
I also perceive him as being someone who went through a lot in his life, and
doesn't care how hard he has it in the future, because of his built up resolve.

Yeah! You just go and reread some of the quotes he gives up
above. And while you're at it, try to imagine someone with a more pious and high-falutin
tone saying what he says. Go on. Shoot. I'll be here waiting for you.

[Two minutes later]

Do you see what I'm driving at, dear reader? Can you
honestly believe that someone like Rocky or Rambo would talk about painting or writing,
or even use the words 'embroil' or 'attribute' in a single sentence? Heck, just
from the way Sly holds himself throughout this interview, you can physically
tell that he has a lot more going on under his bulking frame than what you
can see on the surface.

But don't just take my word for it, pal. Here, check out these Stallone related facts for some more information on this great-great guy.
(1) Prior to making a name for himself in the blockbuster, 'Rocky', Sly played
a sex-starved gigolo in the soft-core adult film called 'Party at Kitty and
Studs'. It was his film debut, and it earned him $200 at the time. (2) Henry
Winkler -- who worked with Sly on the film, 'The Lords of Flatbush' -- based his
'Happy Days' character of Arthur Fonzarelli on him. According to Hendry, 'Sly
was everything that the Fonz was supposed to be. A fan of a variety of
different art styles, who enjoys' Bollywood films, and has been known to paint
on occasion'. (3) Between 'Rocky 2' and 'Rocky 3', Stallone began developing
his own custom made clothing line, resulting in him setting-up his own fashion
house called 'Sly Inc'. (4) Both Mike Tyson and Sly were inducted into the
'International Boxing Hall of Fame' in 2011. (5) During the making of 'Rocky
IV', Mister Rocky Balboa himself was accidentally put into intensive care, care
of Dolph Lundgren's fists. THUNK! Plus years later, during the making of 'The
Expendables', he accidentally broke his neck whilst in a fight scene with Steve
Austin. (6) Its a little known fact that Sly is a very good
painter, and loves the work of Leonardo da Vinci. Heck, his splish-splash is so
good, one of his abstract oil paintings fetched over forty-five thousand
dollars at auction. (7) Over the last ten years or so, Sly has been working on a
screenplay for one of his idols, Edgar Allen Poe. No. He won't be playing the
lead role himself. (8) Sly just hates comic book movies. After the release of
the first Tim Burton 'Batman' film, he stated in the press that this production helmed the
decline of action movies, because it was possible for actors to wear 'muscle
suits' rather than actually 'boast muscle'.

Alight. I think that I've more than made my point about Sly
by now, huh? He's a very creative and dynamic chap, who has succeeded in life
by believing in his own abilities, and acting accordingly, however he sees fit
in any given situation. In a strange ways I kind of feel guilty for thinking of
him as being some sort of a plonka. I'm sorry Sly, mate. If you're ever in my
neck of the woods, I'll make sure that I won't ask you as many questions as
James does in this great episode of 'Inside the Actors Studio'. But what I
can't promise you though, is that I won't ask you to yelp...

Now if you want to see Sly in one of his great-great movies, please check out Sky TV Offers. Over the next couple of weeks they will be broadcasting such action packed adventures as: 'Daylight', 'Rocky', 'The Expendables', 'Rambo', and many-many more. So go on. Click-Click. Tell them the Italian Stallion

sent you.

THE RATING: A

JAMES LIPTON WITH SYLVESTER STALLONE
Reviewed by David Lee Andrews
on
August 22, 2013
Rating: 5